Not only is making a live presentation the number one fear in business communication, but according to a New York Times study of social anxiety and the 2005 edition of The Book of Lists, it is the number one fear—period.

As the modern evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins states, “Blind faith secures its own perpetuation by the simple unconscious expedient of discouraging rational inquiry.”

Our personal understanding of the world could be boiled down to the diversity of our individual genetic makeup, a result of experiences that have shaped our concepts about the world, or even a result of the noise that is getting between us and the message created in the environment in which we choose to be—in short, nature, nurture, and choice.

“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”